Damage Control

chapter 10

    Since my paychecks weren’t going towards my loans anymore, I found myself in the grocery store in the organic aisle.

    There was a Whole Foods a few blocks down, but I wasn’t quite ready to splurge that much yet.

    My basket was empty, besides the coupon pages I had instinctively grabbed by the entrance.

    Hadyn and I had agreed to meet at my apartment for dinner. I was cooking as he was busy getting his flight rescheduled for a later date.

    He had announced that he was going to fall back on the rest of the Fangs of Passion PR    events to stay with me, which was a pretty bold gesture so early on in the relationship. That also meant that he was going to stay in the hotel for a while longer. I could get used to visiting him in the presidential suite.

    My phone chimed with a text from Darius. It was a link to some news article with probably a ridiculous heading. I turned my phone on silent and tucked it back into my purse.

    Pizza. Pizza was easy to make. New York was also known for our slices, so I grabbed all the necessary ingredients.

    I was on the way to check out when I saw that a bunch of candles were on sale. There were two red pillar candles along with decorative holders. Picking it up, I wondered what Hadyn would think of them. Would he read into the red as being too bold? Would he realize that they were cheap candles from a hole in the wall grocery store?

    The beeping of the cashiers pulled me out of my thoughts. Candles were candles and they would make my apartment look better.

    I put them in my basket and made my way to the check out.

    A few hours later, I was in my apartment with the windows open and the music on. The pizza was in the oven, almost ready. I had sangria chilling in the fridge.

    Despite my usual nonchalance, I had spent a good amount of time on my appearance. Clothes were never a big deal to me, but I always thought I had pretty good taste.

    That night I wore cream button-down and a black pencil skirt with tights and thick matching wool socks. I curled my hair and put on a bit of makeup, hoping that I meet his standards.

    But when I looked at myself in the mirror, I saw a younger version of myself. Me when I was a sophomore in high school, unsure of my worth, doing whatever I could to please a guy or to get in with the in-crowd.

    Before I could change my outfit (and my mind), I was startled by a figure climbing in through my fire escape.

    “Holy-“ I gasped, my hands flying to my chest and throat.

    Hadyn laughed and pulled a bouquet of ruby colored roses from behind his back. “Sorry,” he grinned, handing me the flowers. “Also, I’m never cliche but these were the only healthy looking bunch.”

    I grabbed the flowers from him and swallowed, trying to slow down my racing heart.

    Hadyn walked out of my room and into the kitchen, as if he was familiar with the place. Which, I guess he was.

    “You know,” I began, following him. “You can use the door.”

    He shrugged and gave me a killer grin. “I figured for old times sake I’d use the fire escape. Also,” he took a few steps closer and moved the hair from off of my shoulder. “You look beautiful.”

    I cleared my throat and looked down. Since when was I the type to get nervous around a guy? “Thanks,” I responded, lamely. “You do, too,” I added, because I had to make the situation even more awkward.

    Fortunately, Hadyn found it funny and laughed, throwing his head back. And it was true, he looked great. He was wearing a black peacoat and a burberry scarf. Snow was sprinkled on the collar and in his hair, decorating him like the Rockefellar Christmas tree.

    He ducked down and pressed a sweet kiss on my cheek, which warmed me up to my toes.

    God, I hadn’t felt this nervous around a guy in such a long time. The feeling was absurdly    unsettling.

    “Something smells good,” he said, turning his attention towards the oven.

    “Oh!” I yelped. I raced past him and bent over to check on the pizza.

    Instead of the crisp red and yellow I was expecting, the entirety of the pizza was burnt black and brown.

    Hadyn laughed and pulled it out of the oven for me. “I’ll still eat it, if you want. I’ll even lie and tell you it’s the best pizza I’ve ever had.”

    I managed a laugh and brushed the hair out of my face. “No, no. Here, I’ll order one in,” I decided, pulling out my phone.

    Since I had been AWOL for the past few hours and my phone was on silent, I hadn’t seen the plethora of messages.

    Frowning, I clicked on the most recent one from Darius.

    Alexa-why didn’t you tell me you were dating Hadyn Michaels?!

    My heart dropped.

    “What’s wrong?” Hadyn asked.

    I shook my head and gave him a bright smile. “Nothing, my wifi just cut out for a second. Do you have a preference?”

    “Nah,” he replied. He crossed his arms and leaned against my counter. “You’re the New York native. Educate me.”

    I gave him a look and ignored my iMessage app which was filled with messages from people I hadn’t heard from in months. Instead, I opened a food delivery app and put in an order for a Margherita.

    “I’m sorry,” I told Hadyn, who was busy looking at the wall of polaroids I had of all my friends from before I left home.

    He shook his head. “Don’t worry, Lex. You know, you’re a lot cuter when you’re not about to slit my neck.”

    That made me laugh. “I’m still debating, Michaels.”